This Week
Monday Olympic Airways flight attendants’ strike continues. Schedules will be seriously disrupted. President Costis Stephanopoulos visits Hania, Crete. European Commission President Romano Prodi and Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt to attend «The Future of Europe» conference at the Athens Concert Hall. PM Costas Simitis will speak at the conference, which begins at 7 p.m., and is to meet earlier with Prodi and Verhofstadt separately. New Democracy leader Costas Karamanlis to present his party’s policy on health. Hilton Hotel, 1 p.m. Economy and Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis begins a two-day visit to Turkey, heading a delegation including Federation of Greek Industries (SEV) President Odysseas Kyriakopoulos and Theodoros Karatzas, chairman of the Hellenic Bank Association. To Tuesday. Defense Minister Yiannos Papantoniou attends NATO’s winter conference in Brussels, which will discuss Euro-Atlantic relations, Iraq and Afghanistan. To Tuesday. Alternate Foreign Minister Tassos Yiannitsis to attend the 11th ministerial council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Maastricht, the Netherlands. To Tuesday. Conference on «Women and Religions: The Problem of Violence and Fundamentalism,» organized by the Federation of European Orthodox Women, the Socialist Group of the European Parliament and the Academy of Theological Studies of the Demetrias Bishopric. At the offices of the European Parliament, 8 Amalias Ave. Tel. 210.777.5223. Employees of Greek State Radio (ERA) stage a 24-hour strike, starting at 6 a.m., demanding that management sign a collective labor agreement. Tuesday PM Simitis meets with Chinese Communist Party secretary He Yong at 10 a.m. Doctors on contract with the Social Security Foundation (IKA) stage a 48-hour strike. To Wednesday. Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos visits Rome. He will meet with Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency. Olympic Airways contract employees stage a protest march from OA’s offices on Syngrou Avenue to Parliament at 2 p.m. Metropolitan Athinagoras of Panama and Central America and Deputy Foreign Minister Ioannis Magriotis hold a press conference on the construction and inauguration of Cuba’s first Greek Orthodox Church. At the Stratos Vassilikos Hotel, Syntagma Sq. Environmental groups protest against the new forest bill at 7 p.m at the Labor Center in Thessaloniki. National journalists’ unions meet to discuss future strike action to demand a collective labor agreement. Employees at state-run television station ET stage a 24-hour strike, starting at 6 a.m., demanding a collective labor agreement. Wednesday PM Simitis to speak at a Foreign Press Association luncheon. At 1.15 p.m. at the Grande Bretagne Hotel. Lawyers stage a 24-hour strike, demanding the State pay 352 million euros into their social security fund. Employees at private television station Mega Channel stage a three-hour work stoppage. Research Center for Gender Equality holds a conference on «Equal Participation in Decision-Making: Women in the Heart of Europe.» At the Divani Caravel Hotel. Tel. 210.389.8000. Thursday PASOK holds international symposium on «Modern Socialists-New Answers» at the Athenaeum Inter-Continental Hotel.» PM Simitis, the president of the Party of European Socialists Robin Cook and former Danish PM Poul Nyrup Rasmussen will speak. To Friday. International Olympic Committee’s Executive Committee to decide on whether the shot put event will be held at Ancient Olympia during Athens Olympics. «For a Culture of Equal Opportunities» human rights art festival opens at Foundation of the Hellenic World, 254 Pireos, to December 10. It is organized by NGO Open Horizons, with support from the culture, interior and health ministries. Tel. 210.884.6038. Mega Channel employees stage 24-hour strike. Sunday Communist Party celebrates 85th anniversary. General Secretary Aleka Papariga to speak in Peristeri indoor stadium at 6.30 p.m.
